The Bad Sleep Well (1960) is important also in that it was the first film released by the newly formed Kurosawa Production Co., which Kurosawa had founded in April 1959. Although Toho continued to co-produce Kurosawa’s works and also retained a majority stake in Kurosawa’s new company, the fact that the director was now putting some of his own money into the productions reportedly gave him more artistic freedom to play with from the production point of view.

As is typical of Kurosawa’s scripts, the writing of The Bad Sleep Well was a true group effort, as no less than six individuals were involved in shaping the narrative. The basic story was suggested by an original script by Kurosawa’s nephew Mike Inoue, who had never before had and would never since have his stories filmed, but who would later go on to co-produce Dreams and Rhapsody in August. Although the overall story of the original script was kept, Kurosawa set out to refine it, reworking it initially with Eijiro Hisaita, who had previously worked with Kurosawa on two films, No Regrets for Our Youth (1946) and The Idiot (1951), and who would three years later also contribute to High and Low (1963). Three other writers joined them later, all Kurosawa regulars: Hideo Oguni (16 works with Kurosawa), Ryuzo Kikushima (ten Kurosawa collaborations) and Shinobu Hashimoto (nine time Kurosawa contributor).

Perhaps partly because of the number of collaborators in the project, the resulting film is fairly complex, and there is much in it to discuss. Yet, one can perhaps pinpoint three topics which film critics tend to tackle most in their treatments of the film.

The first of these is the overall purpose of the movie, which in Kurosawa’s own words set out to “do something about corruption, because it has always seemed to me that graft, bribery, etc., at the public level, is one of the worst crimes that there is. These people hide behind the facade of some great company or corporation and consequently no one knows how dreadful they really are, what awful things they do. Exposing them was, I thought, a socially significant act — and so I started the film.” (Richie, 140). Parallels have been drawn with Scandal, another Kurosawa film which is fairly unapologetic in the directness of its attack on what Kurosawa sees as an important social problem. Ikiru and High and Low are, of course, other films often mentioned in connection with The Bad Sleep Well.

Yet, even with his newly formed production company and the seemingly direct attack on the powers that be, it cannot be said that Kurosawa had freedom to press his point exactly the way he had wanted. There were several compromises, and most famously the chilling last scene which reveals us the story’s corruption going far deeper in society than initially suggested had to be compromised, as producers were unwilling to allow any more obvious connection to the status quo of contemporary Japan (see for instance Cardullo, 115). In 1986, Kurosawa suggested that the reason why the film had never by that time been re-released in Japan was that Toho was still unwilling to deal with the sensitive subject matter (Cardullo, 141).

The second point that is usually included in discussions of The Bad Sleep Well is the film’s somewhat uneven quality. Much praise has been directed towards the first act, or the initial 25 minutes, which indeed constitute what is among the best openings of any Kurosawa film. At the same time, however, the rest of the film is often seen as either being overshadowed by this brilliant opening, or often simply somewhat under Kurosawa’s standards.

The third topic usually raised is the film’s connection with Shakespeare’s Hamlet. While Kurosawa himself never at least in print acknowledged the play as an influence on The Bad Sleep Well, many have seen connections between Kurosawa’s film and Shakespeare’s play. This, I am sure, will turn out to be one of our discussion topics as well.

As always, the floor is now yours. While the above-mentioned three points are perhaps the most discussed elements of the film, there is obviously far more The Bad Sleep Well. Head to the Kurosawa forums and let us know your interpretation(s) of the film!

Kurosawa – Samurai Classics II gathers together four films: Rashomon, Throne of Blood, Red Beard and The Fencing Master. What is quite hilarious about this collection is, of course, that despite of the box set’s title, none of the four movies is strictly speaking an Akira Kurosawa samurai film. After all, not one of the first three mentioned is what you would necessarily call a “samurai film”, while the last one on the list is not a Kurosawa directed film at all, but one based on his script.

Since Rashomon, Throne of Blood and Red Beard are all available also in other editions (including those in Eastern Eye) and there are no real extras on these discs, it is the Kurosawa scripted The Fencing Master (“Tateshi Danpei”) that draws our interest. According to Madman, this is the first time that the film has been made available outside of Japan, and this may very well be true. At the same time, however, one can but wonder why it was selected for this box set. Not least so, as the film on offer is apparently the 1962 remake, and not the 1950 original Tateshi Danpei for which Kurosawa actually wrote the script. While the remake probably used the same script, it is in my opinion questionable to what extend one could consider this an Akira Kurosawa film. As such, I feel that the box set is somewhat disappointing, and borders on deceptive marketing, considering that Madman’s website makes no mention that the film was not directed by Kurosawa.

The Kurosawa: Samurai Classics II box set can be purchased from the Madman website. To the best of my knowledge, The Fencing Master is not sold separately.

Another Region 4 Madman release from last December is The Lower Depths. Priced at $34.95 Australian dollars (c. $30 US), the price seems fairly reasonable, but I have no idea about the image or sound quality, although the Madman releases have in the past been good enough. The DVD comes with an image gallery, as well as a commentary by the Monash University film historian and critic Freda Freiberg, which might prove interesting enough to warrant purchasing this disc even if you already own another version of the movie. Madman’s The Lower Depths is available directly from Madman’s website.

The third Region 4 Madman release that was put out last December is The Bad Sleep Well. Again, my knowledge of this release is currently very limited, but as with The Lower Depths, I expect the quality to be fine. The DVD comes with a commentary by Ross Gibson, who works as a Professor of Media Arts in the University of Technology, Sydney. If you are a commentary junkie like myself, you may be interested. The film is again available from Madman’s website for $34.95 Australian dollars.

This concludes our run-through of recent Region 4 releases. It is really good to see Madman extending their Kurosawa catalogue, and making the director’s films available for the English speaking viewers in the Region 4 areas (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Oceania, and most of South America). In fact, a quick count suggests that Madman have now released all but ten of Kurosawa’s movies.

Thanks again, Master Thief, for the heads-up!

For the blog article, see here.

So, here you are now, three recent and rather straight-to-the-point articles by Wabisabi on three of Kurosawa’s earlier films:

1. First of all, Wasbisabi gives us a few observations regarding The Bad Sleep Well.

2. Then she has given us some thoughts about One Wonderful Sunday.

3. Finally, there are her thoughts on Stray Dog.

I look forward to reading more of Wabisabi’s opinions on Kurosawa’s films. And, by the way, the short pieces that she has written on her blog about other Japanese films are also well worth reading.

There is an interesting little article at The Indigestible on Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well.

It makes a curious suggestion that the film could be seen as “a bizarre mix of the Western way of life as experienced in postwar Japan combined with a uniquely Nipponese view”. While I am not entirely sure whether this is a view necessarily intended by Kurosawa (see my comment on the entry), it would indeed seem to fit the work pretty well.

So, see for yourself. And tell us what you think.